"You… you use that to comb your hair?"
"Yes! Fantastic, right? Humans are so smart, that their inventions are just—oh! So cool," she showed what called the 'dinglehopper' to him. As odd as it was to see a mermaid combing her hair with a fork, he couldn't help himself but to laugh at it.
"Pfft—Ariel, I'm afraid we actually have a tool, which is not that, that is used for that very purpose," Jim dug into the pockets in his jacket, while Ariel was left puzzled.
"What do you mean another tool? Why would you have two different tools for the same purpose? I don't see that being logical—" she stopped herself when Jim pulled out the tool he meant. Narrowed eyes, gaping mouth, neck tilting from one angle to another, the mermaid was certainly curious.
"May I?" She handed out her hand.
"Of course.""
Once the tool was in her possession, comparison was the first thing Ariel did; between the dinglehopper and the mysterious yet interesting tool. The mermaid really did take her time in the process, that it became silent for a few minutes, which was unbearable for Jim. She even counted the amount of teeth the mysterious tool had.
"The name of the tool is a comb, by the way."
"Comb, huh? It's very… interesting, indeed," grabbing the comb, she used it to straighten her hair, which worked fantastically.
"Oh my. It works brilliantly!" She combed and combed and combed, but it was an unusual sight for Jim. Usually, he would comb, and get stuck, and use force to continue the process. In this case, Ariel seemed to have very few tangled hairs. Jim only raised a brow, not having the desire to ask. She was going to have more examination, but then she remembered something.
"Oh, we've been here for a while, Jim. I have to go now," she looked back to the ocean, then back to him, "can we meet again?"
"Sure, tomorrow, same time?" Ariel processed the suggestion, and nodded down in confirmation.
"Tomorrow, same time. And can I keep the comb?"
"Heh—for a price, of course,"
"What's the price?"
"Hmm," he reached his hand out for hers, "friends?"
"Oh, do humans do this, too? Starting a friendship with a handshake?" She instantly returned his hand and shook it with a grin.
"Oh nah—it's just, perhaps some do, which I happened to do, which I never did before, but," at this point, Jim had run out of words to say.
"You get the point."
"I'm sure I do—and Jim," Ariel leaned in closer,
"thank you so much."
The gap between the boy and the mermaid was rather close, Jim was very sure at this point that Ariel was feeling the rising temperature of his face. However, she didn't.
"Uhh, you're welcome."
"I'll see you tomorrow, Jim!"
With that, Ariel left into the depth. Still hypnotized by those goo-goo eyes, Jim walked away to his solar surfer, while having his attention in his own head, not where he was going as he tripped on a rock.
"James Hawkins!"
Her mother called from the inn above the beach, his full name, particularly. Kids know that mothers who call their children by their full name was never going to go well. Jim was very much aware of this, and hustled his phase.
"Yes, mom!"
From the edge of the cliff, Sarah Hawkins popped her head to see the source of the reply. A frown was seen from Jim's eyes, even from a distance that is enough to make her mother look little.
"Cut the fun times and come up here! I need you to take care of the inn while I'm away for errands!"
"Ugh… coming…"
He was coming, but then stopped in the middle of his track to look back at the ocean, with a hope to see a glimpse of a red head. But the hope faded as her mother called him once again.
Ariel, on the other hand, was thrilled to add a new addition to her collection, which was where she's heading. On her way, passing corals and several other mermen and mermaids, her eyes stopped at a particular fish.
"Flounder! Hey!"
The yellow fish turned to the source of the voice, and waved in response.
"Hurry, you've got to come with me!" She commanded and took the fish by the fin.
"Whoa, slow down, Ariel! I can swim on my own—" the fish pulled off himself from the mermaid's grasp, and kept on with her phase.
"What is it this time, Ari?"
"I'll tell you once we're there!"
"There?" Before Flounder could even question, he noticed the bag Ariel was holding.
"Oh… there."
Flounder only took a guess after seeing the object in Ariel's possession, and he was right. The duo arrived at a rock, which imitates a normal reef, however it stored secrets. It has an odd shape, towering upwards with its entrance only known by these two living beings.
Ariel took a hold on a rock, and moved it with ease, revealing a hole that leads into the inner side of the rock. The two entered simultaneously, and shut the entrance to prevent any unwanted guests.
Inside, it was a galore of men made creations. The walls of the place provided a perfect storage for the scavenged treasures. On the very top of the room, a hole, round shaped, which at the current time, the sun was seen to match the hole's size.
"Now, what is you that you've found, Ari?"
The mermaid turned to him. "Very inpatient, are you, Flounder?" She gave him a friendly smirk.
"Well yeah, new things are always interesting," Flounder shrugged.
"True, very true, indeed. And here it is!" Ariel pulled out the comb from her bag.
The object turned Flounder curious, "huh? What's this?"
"It's called a comb… to comb hairs," Ariel shrugged. "I wonder why they didn't come up with a better name, 'dinglehopper' sounds nicer, although I'll admit, simplicity is… well, simpler."
"And," Ariel continued, "it works flawlessly!"
She gave Flounder a demonstration. The comb sliced through her hair seamlessly, which to Flounder's opinion, seemed to be no different with the dinglehopper.
"I don't see how this is supposed to be better than the dinglehopper, Ariel," he spoke.
"Well this one has more teeth than the dinglehopper! So, it straightens more hairs per stroke," she proudly replied, as if she was the inventor of the tool itself.
"So, you're implying that humans have made a better tool than the dinglehopper to comb their hair?"
"No, this is a tool entirely made for that, and the only one, Flounder."
"So, what's the dinglehopper for?"
It was right on the end of her tongue, but she took it back. She wasn't sure of her answer, which could've been confirmed by Jim had she asked it to him. "Ah… I do not know, I should've asked him," Ariel looked down.
"Him who?" Flounder questioned.
"Ah! Flounder! I forgot to tell you," she firmly held the fish's fins. "I met a human today!"
Flounder's jaw dropped, but Ariel placed it back on and let go of him.
"Oh, he was so sweet! At first, I saw him flying, literally, FLYING on the sky! He was flying on this… board that had something glowing on the back. He was gone for a minute or two in the clouds, but I waited for him, and listened to his cheering in the cloud. I bet he was having so much fun—" with no near hope of expecting the end of Ariel's story-telling performance to be anytime soon, Flounder swam to her to make sure he's heard.
"Ariel! A human! You met a human?!"
"I haven't even reached the best part yet! He gave me this comb thing!" She showed the fish the object once again.
"So you're telling me you talked to the human?!"
"Yes! Is that a problem?"
"In the eyes of your dad including other merpeople, yes! Ariel, you know you're not supposed to—"
"Oh Flounder, what's life without taking risks? Besides, he was a nice person!"
Flounder dragged a fin from his forehead down to his chin. "What if your dad finds out—"
"Which he didn't, no one knew, in fact" Ariel cheekily smiled.
"Yeah, but I know you're probably going to meet him tomorrow or the day after that or else," he frowned. "Ariel, I know you would."
The red head smiled sheepishly, "you know me like a book."
"I know you like the back of my fin, Ari."
"Well, you wouldn't tell this to anyone, right?"
He sighed. "Like I've always done, Ariel. But having too much secrets in your life isn't healthy, Ariel. Not to count… interacting with a human."
"Flounder, I assure you, he's a great person. I mean, we've only chatted for a little, but it was enough to form a first impression."
"What's his name?"
"Jim."
"Well, Ariel, next time you're meeting Jim, take me with ya, will you?"
"Sure," she bobbed.
"Hahh… Ariel, you and your stuff…" Flounder complained. The mermaid simply giggled at his hopelessness while placing the dinglehopper on a spot near her collection. She was going to place the comb right next to it, but then she hesitated.
"Do you think I should bring this along with me? It's a pretty useful item," she stroked her chin.
"Ariel, don't. People will ask you about the origin of that thing, and if one of those people happens to be your father…"
Flounder's reason sounded true enough in her mind, so she left it with the dinglehopper.
"Alright, Flounder, let's go."
"Yeah, let's."
The mermaid headed to the entrance of the rock, and shifted it to the side, allowing them to go out. Not forgetting to close the entrance back, Ariel and Flounder proceeded to head to Atlantis.
However, the picture of Jim appeared in her brain.
"You know, he's quite the looker, to be honest. He seems like a man who'd deal with…"
And it went on and on, with Flounder being the only listener.
However, one tiny figure spotted the two on the move. Where they were was a question mark to the tiny figure, but he was determined to find out. After all, he was given the task to give supervision by King Triton to his daughter, Ariel.
"Hmph… Sebastian the composer… looking after a girl," the crab complained. After that, he walked to the direction the opposite of where Ariel and Flounder were heading, trying to figure out where they've been.
